Text clients reviewed 4: SLiteChat

We’re all familiar with the Second Life Viewer in one flavour or another. But what about the non-graphical “lightweight” clients that are available for accessing SL when using a “full” Viewer isn’t always an option?

Like the Viewer, these “lightweight”, or text-only clients come in a number of flavours, some of which – Libretto, Metabolt and Radegast – I’ve previously looked at in terms of the Windows platform. SLiteChat is another such client, available for Windows, Linux and Mac, and it gets the Pey treatment here.

SLiteChat

Platform(s): Windows / Linux / Mac (Windows reviewed)

Version reviewed: 1.6.3

In terms of overall functionality, SLiteChat sits on the Libretto side of the scales – if all you need is a rapid means of logging-in to SL and conversing and carrying out some basic tasks, it is ideal. It installs smoothly from the .EXE (binaries also available), and when launched – unlike the first three clients I reviewed in this series – doesn’t present you with a log-in screen. Instead, the application window is displayed, with a prompt for you to log-in.

Buttons

Exit: closes the SLiteChat window and quits the application

Login: displays the log-in floater

Logout: logs you out of your chosen grid, but leaves the SLiteChat application running

Teleport Home: when logged in, this will tp you to any home location you have set (or to your default logging-in point if none set)

Preferences: displays the Preferences floater

Check for Updates: will poll the SLiteChat website for any available updates.

Logging-in

Clicking the Login button displays the logging-in floater.

Enter the name of the avatar you wish to use to log-in to your grid in the First Name / Last Name box (in the case of Second Life, those without a last name should enter “Resident” after their first name). When logging in, note that:

All names and passwords entered into the client are recorded, and can but automatically entered into the fields during future log-ins by clicking on the down arrow at the right side of the First / Last name box and selecting the required avatar name

Log-in names are stored by grid; so if you log-in to multiple grids, select the grid first, and this will enable a list of avatars used to date to log-into that grid when the arrow to the right of the First / Last Name field is clicked.

The Grid drop-down (shown above) contains a pre-defined list of grids, which is slightly out-of-date at present.

View: allows you to toggle the Friends and Group windows on / off individually or together (if one is turned off, the other will expand to fill the space; if both are turned off, the chat display area expands to fill the space)

Friend: allows you to:

Search for a Friend: opens a floater window, enter the name of the person you are seeking in the top and their name is display in the main window. Entering a first name will display a list of matching first names. Highlight a name in the list to either send and IM or a Friendship request

Remove a Friend: left-click on a name in your Friends list and use this option to remove them as a Friend.

IM a Friend: left-click on a name in your Friends list and use this option to IM them – a separate tab will open in the main chat and message display area.

Group: this menu option is currently inactive

Help: Displays the Help floater and checks for updates to the application whether or not you are logged-in.

Friends and Group Lists

The Friends and Group list windows each have their own buttons and options.

The options are pretty self-explanatory, with the action buttons mirroring those found in the Friend and Group menus (with the caveat the latter menu options remain greyed out in the 1.6.3 release). As noted above, closing one or other window will automatically expand the other to fill the space, while closing both will expand the chat / message display area into the space. It’s also worth nothing that friends are automatically displayed alphabetically (first name) and split between online and offline.

Preferences

The Preferences button / menu option (under File) displays a floater of personal preference options for the client.These options are all fairly self-explanatory, although not all appear to be functioning properly.

The Google translation option no longer runs, probably as a result of the API for that service becoming a paid-for option

The options to save conversations (alongside the FILE -> EXPORT SAVED CONVERSATIONS) do not appear to be functioning.

Website

The SLiteChat website provides download links and basic documentation – including how to install, for those that would prefer to download the binaries – and a very good FAQ on common issues.

Use and Opinion

SLiteChat does precisely what it says on the box, and provides a clean, quick text-based client. It equals Libretto in most respects, although some functionality doesn’t appear to be entirely there at present. In the case of Groups, and the Group menu, this isn’t a problem, as the Group window action buttons all work. Some of the Preferences options do appear to need further work – either that or I was having a bad tech day when playing with the client. The Grid list needs updating, somewhat as well – and it would be nice to have the ability to add your own preferred grids to the list.

I’ve no idea where development stands at the moment – this release dates back to February 2011; I’ve IM’d the developer and will update here with more info should it come through.

However, none of the above stop SLiteChat from being a good, lightweight alternative to accessing SL when you’re unable to use your Viewer, and is certainly capable of letting you stay in contact with friends in-world.

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